Gen 16: Abram sleeping with Hagar, who conceived Ishmael and was mistreated by Sarai. She ran away, but was told to return by an angel

The chapter focuses on Hagar, an Egyptian servant probably bestowed upon Abram by Pharaoh.

• v1: Sarai had not yet borne Abram any children
• v2-3: Sarai was an agreeable and dutiful wife, and asked Abram to marry Hagar. What Sarai did was in accord with the practice and culture of that day (for example, the Code of Hammurabi, Nuzi, Alalakh and Mari tablets all provide for exactly the very eventuality listed in Scripture) - a barren wife could be credited with children that her maidservant bore to the wife's husband. Abram was wrong to go along with his wife's proposal, for it showed that he thought he could help God fulfil the divine promise regarding the "seed" by engaging in polygamy. It is parallel to the inaccurate and often quoted saying "God helps those who helps themselves". At the creation of the first couple, God had stated a strong case for monogamous relationships - that two, and two only, would become one. Proverbs 5:15-23 encourages monogamy through the allegory of drinking water from one's own well (figure of speech for sex within a monogamous marriage)
• v4: The consequences of Abram's sin and marriage to Hagar. Sarai was despised and hence provoked. Hagar looked with scorn upon her mistress, probably boasting of the prospect she had o bringing an heir to Abram, being more favoured by heaven and likely to be more loved by Abram. Hagar, the servant, when favoured and advanced, grew haughty and insolent, and forgot her place and origin.
• v5: Sarai unjustly charged Abram with her hurt, saying that he was responsible for her suffering. She was unreasonably jealous, and rashly appealed to God in the case, as if Abram had refused to right her. Thus Sarai, in her passion, spoke as a fool - she was the one who had given her maid to Abram in the first place
• v6: Abram's gave in meekly to Sarai. Though Hagar was Abram's wife too, he would not protect her in any thing that was disrespectful to Sarai. "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" (Prov 15:1). Sarai mistreated Hagar, and dealt harshly with her, and Hagar in her pride, fled and left. She avoided her wrath for the present, forgot the wrong she did to her mistress, and that she herself had first given the provocation by despising her mistress. To sum up the story - bitter cat fight between two bitchy females! ^^
• v7: Hagar was stopped only after she had wandered out into the wilderness, and next to a spring, probably to refresh herself. God brings us into a wilderness, and there he meets with us: "Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her." (Hos 2:14)
• v8: The angel addressed her as "Hagar, Sarai's maid", to humble her and as a reubke to her flight. The two pertinent questions posed "where have you come from" and "where are you going" is a reality check for us. In times that we fall, we would do well to remember not only where we have fallen from, but what we are falling into.
• v9: The angel sent her back with advice and counsel, telling her to humble herself and submit.
• v10: He sent her back with an assurance of the mercy God had for her.
• v11: Hagar was assured of a safe delivery, and that of a son, which Abram desired. Ishmael means "God will hear", for God heard, and hence responded. "Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help." (Ps 31:22)
• v12: Here we have the prophecy, that the descendants of Ishmael would be a great people, but yet would not be part of the covenant. The character of the child would be wild, brash, bold, untamed, and would live in strife and in a state of war, yet continue to live in safety and hold his own ground.
• v13-14: Hagar repented upon the appearance of God to her. She acknowledged that God is an all seeing God, a God who came out to meet her in the wilderness, and yet did not meet face to face but rather saw the back of.
• v15-16: Hagar did as the angel commanded